Presidential campaigns always include plenty of images of the candidates and food. Sometimes, they are chomping down hamburgers in a diner to show that they are regular guys like everyone else. Other times, they're serving pancakes to the masses -- I never understand that one. Maybe they are showing that they're good providers.

Yes, food is part of a presidential campaign, and this year it's a big part. That's because there are two seemingly opposing issues that are front and center. One is Food Stamps. More Americans are on Food Stamps these days than ever before. The Great Recession is supposedly over, according to the economists, but unemployment and under-employment are high. I used to work with the Food Stamp Program, and I know for a fact that most people on Food Stamps are the working poor. They are not lazy or on the take. They just have jobs with such low pay that they are eligible for such an "entitlement." Many military families qualify for Food Stamps.

The opposite issue is obesity. The First Lady has made childhood obesity her issue, and it's gaining a lot of buzz. There's an interesting article in The Atlantic Health about a study that looks at the efficacy of different anti-obesity messages. Guess what the researcher found? People don't want to be shamed into losing weight. They want positive messages, such as the First Lady's "Let's Move" campaign. What people like and what works are two different things, but that's not what this article is about.

Back in the presidential election of 1928, candidate Herbert Hoover promised "a chicken in every pot for Sunday dinner". Actually, he didn't, but we'll get to that. Back then, chicken was more expensive than pork or beef. Chickens produced eggs. Once you eat the chicken you lose the eggs. Only rich people could afford to slaughter a young, tender chicken. Most people waited for the chicken to get old enough to stop laying eggs and then cooked the tough old bird. Roosters were also ok to eat, because you only need one to keep the hens happily laying eggs, but they, too, are tough.